Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for January 15, 2024

I think Disney will do just fine.

Worst part, it’s not even the right Mickey. Disney could sue, if they felt like it…

The copyright has only expired for the Steamboat Willie era Mickey, which was in black and white. Mickey with color shorts and shoes is still under copyright. It should be interesting. There’s two different horror movies featuring Mickey as the villain that were announced since the copyright expired.

I see Wiley succumbed to the desire to use that formerly copyright image.

Someone’s taking the Mickey.

Wiley slipped us a Mickey! And that Mickey Mouse organization (Disney) can’t do jack.

Far from as blatant as Berke Breathed’s Mortimer Mouse (does anyone remember him as Ricky Rat?) from his post Bloom County Outland strips about 35 years ago. One of his ears has teeth marks from then Disney CEO Michael Eisner after a fight (see the Nov 12 & 19, 1989 Outland strips on Go Comics).

Forty years too late, but yeah.

Copyright law needs to be revised – when Disney made “Steamboat Willie,” no one expected the explosion of media we have now, where a film made 100 years ago is readily available for anyone to watch any time. They used to be released and then into a vault; now it’s almost eternally in release.

Poor Mickey…I don’t even want to think what Minnie is up to.

A couple winters living on the street and he’ll start to look like Mickey Rat™

What happened to the pension plan?

It’s a good thing the copywrite expired otherwise this comic would be involved in litigation. Disney is notorious for defending their copywrites.

Today is the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. Not a single comic I read made reference to it. I guess this does add weight to his statement. “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

Okay, that explains a lot.

I thought it was just the B/W “Steamboat Willie” whose copyright expired?

Suffering from residual anxiety?

Disney is evil.

he Mickey Moused the setup though

I was truly surprised that Steamboat Willie was allowed to expire by the Disney family…w/o him u have no Mickey…

In US copyright law, the rights for a character expire 95 years after the publication of the original work. With Steamboat Willie debuting in 1928, January 2024 marked the expiration date for the short. So the mischievous, rat-like, non-speaking boat captain in “Steamboat Willie” has become public. According to Fortune magazine:

“More modern versions of Mickey will remain unaffected by the expiration of the Steamboat Willie copyright. Disney still solidly and separately holds a trademark on Mickey as a corporate mascot and brand identifier, and the law forbids using the character deceptively to fool consumers into thinking a product is from the original creator. . . Anyone starting a film company or a theme park will not be free to make mouse ears their logo."

https://Fortune.com/2023/12/23/disney-mickey-mouse-copyright-public-domain-steamboat-willie/

Disney deserves all the bad luck it is causes it’s self.

Is that Rhonda Santis in the white boots?

Well, there goes an entire legal department!

Basically, it’s a free meme that has now been passed around by more than half of the comic strip creators.

This year? This century is beyond weird. Still not liking it.

Someone has already rolled out a cheesy horror movie featuring this version of Steamboat Willie mouse, so the royalties should be rolling in any day now.

Rats!

Some people just want to take the Mickey out of this …..

Get ready for “Mickey’s Mouse Trap” based on the now out of copyright Steamboat Willie cartoon. And lets not forget about “Blood and Honey” based on the original Winnie the Pooh. Heads up that both are basically horror movies.

It’s going to be a Mickey Mouse year all right.

Let’s all pitch in and get ’im a steamboat!

The thing about copyrights is that they aren’t meant to last a long time to ENCOURAGE creativity, rather than rest on the laurels of past successes. Correct me if I’m wrong.

I’m the guy they call little Mickey Mouse…got a sweetie down at the Chicken House,,,,,

haven’t seen too many ambulatory vocal comic strip characters begging for money lately, though. More than happy to help, otherwise. I wonder how Disney’s doing?